The New Colossus

by Marshall Goldberg

  The men Nellie was impugning, Barker and DeKay, were from the strata of society that defamation laws were meant to protect: powerful men, professional men, respectable men.

  Chapter Nine

  Suicide was very much a mystery in the nineteenth century. Most people didn’t live long enough to take their own lives. For the upper classes, the life expectancy was fifty for the landed gentry, forty-five in manufacturing areas. For everyone else, no matter where they lived, it was under thirty. Like deficit spending or the makeup of prison populations in more modern times, everyone had strongly held theories on the causes of suicide but remarkably little evidence to support them. In the 1880s there was no real understanding or even acknowledgement of mental illness. Suicide was simply the sign of a troubled soul.

  Although Gould’s building at Eighth and Twenty-Third was garish, his own offices were modest, almost stately. The building had been chosen by Gould’s more flamboyant partner, James Fisk, in order to be closer to his mistress, the actress and singer Josie Mansfield. Fisk’s affair with Mansfield would eventually lead to his murder by one of Mansfield’s many lovers, Edward S. Stokes, who schemed with Mansfield to extort money from Fisk by threatening to make public Fisk’s affair with her.

  Chapter Ten

  A hundred years later, the outcome of Nellie’s lawsuit would be clear-cut. The bank would have to pay Nellie and her sisters all the money lost through its employee’s malfeasance, plus interest, plus punitive damages. The embezzler would have gone to jail for at least seven years. Mary Jane would have been entitled to 50 percent of Judge Cochran’s entire estate, no matter what the children of his first wife said or did. And Mary Jane and her children would have been represented by an attorney well-versed in the laws of wills and estates, who would have won a substantial verdict, large enough for all of them to live comfortably for a long, long time.

  In 1888, however, the outcome was far less certain. Mary Jane, as a widow, would have no legal claim, and Nellie, unable to afford a lawyer, would have to represent herself and her sisters in court, which would pose quite a challenge since women were not allowed to serve as lawyers or jurors. The case would be before a judge who was a part-time lawyer and frequently employed by the First Pennsylvania Bank. The judge would undoubtedly know Colonel Jackson and want to protect his reputation. (Colonel Jackson was a leading citizen of Apollo and had commanded the Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves in the Civil War.) And even though he was its president at the time, the bank would deny all financial responsibility for the actions of Colonel Jackson, and under state agency law they would have a strong case.

  Originally the Constitution of 1789 had made no provision for a jury trial in civil or criminal cases, an omission that provoked outrage and threatened ratification. The right to a trial by jury in criminal cases had been part of English law since the Magna Carta in 1215, and a constitutional guarantee to that right was quickly made part of the first ten amendments, with little resistance. But the right to a jury trial in civil cases (that is, when the issue is money damages) had no such precedent. In order to maintain commerce with English merchants (the States’ primary trading partners), the framers took pains to assure those merchants their contracts would be enforced in American courts. But local farmers and merchants, mistrustful of the plantation-owning framers and fearing that judges would become tools of wealthy creditors, insisted on a right to a jury before their peers in civil cases, and that led to the Seventh Amendment.

  By no means was it clear that Nellie’s case would even be heard by a jury. Although the Seventh Amendment explicitly guaranteed a litigant’s right to a jury trial in civil cases, the Supreme Court in 1805 had drastically narrowed that right as to render it almost meaningless. Under a legal doctrine that continues into the twenty-first century, a litigant was entitled to the Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury trial only if an analogous case in 1791 would have been tried by a jury. Otherwise the case would remain with the judge, a part-time lawyer whose bias and interests would almost always be with the wealthier party.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hilton’s house outside of Saratoga Springs would eventually become the campus for Skidmore College.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nellie asked herself who visited Emma frequently those last three months. The most natural step for future generations, of course (pre-Google), would be to pore over the obituary tributes to Emma in a large library and see who was at her bedside. But although New York City had passed Paris in population and was second only to London as the world’s largest city, it had no libraries in 1888 other than the private collections of Henry Clay Frick and J.P. Morgan. The New York Public Library would not open for another twenty-three years. (The first public library in the United States had opened in Boston forty years before, in 1848.) Information that would be at one’s fingertips in later times was essentially inaccessible to Nellie. Her only hope was the World’s archives.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The full correspondence between Moses Seixas (Emma Lazarus’s great-great-uncle and the founder of the first synagogue in America) and George Washington is set out here:

  The letter from Moses Seixas to President George Washington

  To the President of the United States of America. Sir:

  Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits — and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to NewPort.

  With pleasure we reflect on those days — those days of difficulty, and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, — shielded Your head in the day of battle: — and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States.

  Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People — a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance — but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: — deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: — This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good.

  For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men — beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: — And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality.

  Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790.

  Moses Seixas, Warden

  The letter​ from George Washington in response to Moses Seixas

  To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island. Gentlemen,

  While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.

  The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of unc
ommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people.

  The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

  It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity.

  May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.

  G. Washington

  Chapter Eighteen

  On a map Long Island looks like a pitchfork with two prongs facing east. The northernmost prong, stretching out to Orient Point, has more rugged terrain, rockier shorelines, and fewer people. The southern prong, with Sag Harbor and the beaches of the Hamptons, is more inviting and was settled more quickly. But in the 1880s, except for a few fishermen here and there, most of the population of Long Island lived in the western part, a spillover from the contiguous Brooklyn and Queens. Or rather, most of the white population lived there. Native Americans had settled throughout the territory.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lesbian relations were simply not the first explanation one thought of regarding an unmarried, wealthy, brilliant, charismatic thirty-eight-year-old woman in nineteenth-century America. Female homosexuality was unimaginable for most of the nineteenth century, as women, according to prevailing thought, had no sexual impulses. In fact, after British moralists sought to make lesbian activity a crime in the 1870s, Queen Victoria declined to go along with such a condemnation because she refused to believe that female homosexuality even existed. But it did exist, of course, and nineteenth-century American and British society were at a loss to explain its presence. At first it was dismissed as a practice limited to prostitutes, but with the increasing presence of lesbian couples on city streets, that explanation was obviously insufficient. Instead, in an era uncomfortable with the notion of a female sex drive, lesbians were deemed to be “no longer women, but usurpers of masculine roles who have become desexualized.” Unfortunately, the empirical reality meant that an inordinate number of males, far too many, were being usurped in their masculine roles. Consequently, many reactionary males sought to outlaw lesbian activity altogether, making it a crime for a woman even to dress as a man. That helped normalize the streets and put men at ease, but financially-able women simply went behind closed doors and lived together in what was called a “Boston Marriage.” (The term originated with the wife of Jay Gould’s philandering business partner, James Fisk. While Fisk chased women all over New York City, his wife lived for twenty years with a female companion in Boston.) Finally, with the criminal sanction unable to rid society of the moral pestilence, society began labeling lesbian activity a “mental illness.” Anyone who felt “abnormal” emotions, that is, an attraction for the same sex, was deemed “sick,” and in the 1880s the term “homosexual,” to describe a poor soul thus abnormally afflicted, came into being.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  During the 1888 election, voters in Indiana were paid $15 if they voted Republican. That would be equivalent to $366 in 2014 dollars.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Prior to the Civil War an artist’s personal studio was essentially the great outdoors, but by the 1880s many artists, especially in New York City, had moved their day-to-day work inside. The studio became both a space to produce the art and a gathering place to display it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Regarding the stench and garbage in New York City, it was not until 1898 that the Metropolitan Board of Health issued a proclamation forbidding “the throwing of dead animals, garbage or ashes into the streets.” At the time, cholera and diphtheria epidemics were commonplace. Five thousand people died from a cholera epidemic in 1881 alone. When word arrived of an epidemic in New York, the rich would clear out of the city until the danger had passed, while the poor remained and hoped for the best.

  Chapter Thirty

  Since the 1950s heart disease has become the number one killer in the United States, due mostly to a more sedentary lifestyle and richer diet. But in the 1880s the leading causes of death were from communicable diseases like pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea.

  Heart disease was ranked only number four. But some heart disease occurs no matter what the era, and that was the case with Ingram. A case of rubella during his mother’s first trimester had narrowed the valves in his heart and impeded the blood flow. Twenty years later, he might have had an electrocardiograph that would have alerted him to the condition; thirty years later it could have been treated with medication; and fifty years later cardiologists would have made it as good as new. But in the 1880s, doctors had no idea how to detect or prevent a heart attack. Ingram was entirely at the mercy of his defective heart.

  A hundred years later, the steps for helping a heart attack victim were well-known: put them in a comfortable position. Place aspirin or nitroglycerin under their tongue. Get help immediately—time is absolutely of the essence. Position them in as stable position as possible on the ride to the hospital. Give them oxygen. Administer CPR if their heart fails. Nellie, of course, knew none of those things, nor did anyone else at the time. She just wanted Ingram to get to the hospital as fast as possible. But the fastest route to the hospital was over cobblestone roads, with multiple turns that shifted the ambulance carriage from side to side and almost turned it over. That alone would have killed most heart attack victims.

  Acknowledgments

  So much happens between an idea and a finished book. Research. Writing. Selling. Assembling. Fortunately I had skilled and caring help all along the way.

  I wanted to learn as much as I could about my characters. George Goodwin and the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Society enlightened me on Jewish life in Colonial New England, and Rabbi Mordechai Eskovitz, and my dear friend Jim Tobak, gave me a lengthy tour of the storied Touro Synagogue. The Apollo Area Historical Society directed me to Nellie Bly’s childhood home and offered a treasure trove of her time in western Pennsylvania. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh was kind enough to share some of Nellie’s original letters; there is nothing quite like spending years with a character and then reading something penned with her own hand. My daughter Kate, with an eye far sharper than mine, spent several afternoons with me wandering New York City in the exact spots I would later write about. Castle Garden, Battery Park and the old Newspaper Row made particularly strong impressions.

  Not all research can be done first-hand, of course, and several historians made life considerably easier for mez. I read dozens and dozens of books and articles on Nellie, Emma, Pulitzer, Jay Gould, Henry Hilton, Helena DeKay, Mary Hallock Foote, Richard Gilder and Charles DeKay. I won’t list them all here, but Esther Schor’s biography Emma Lazarus was especially helpful and prompted my first fan letter to a Princeton professor.

  Some writers can crank out a polished draft without ever needing to change a word, but I am not one of them. Kate Zentall, Marc Green, Ed Stampler, Pat Lo
Brutto and Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman all provided excellent editorial suggestions that improved the book and made it much more readable. David Dornbusch, Helen Dornbusch and Ilene Block always let me know when I go off track, and received the book well early on. Their enthusiasm was worth hours of line edits. Finally it is my good fortune to have two voracious readers under my roof, my wife Anne and daughter Rachel. Each has remarkable strengths as manuscript readers, and together they cover a large waterfront. They also keep me humble.